


Found Family

by magicalIdiot



Series: A Reimagined Verdant Wind [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: AU where they save Dimitri and Dedue at Gronder and bring them back, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, Fluff, Gen, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), let my kids be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 23:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicalIdiot/pseuds/magicalIdiot
Summary: Sometimes, you just need to see your friends next to you to know they’re still alive.A standalone fic in the series, no need to read the other fics in the series for context.
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez & Linhardt von Hevring, Hilda Valentine Goneril & Claude von Riegan, Marianne von Edmund & Hilda Valentine Goneril, everyone & everyone? we are here for the gen fic folks
Series: A Reimagined Verdant Wind [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799512
Comments: 15
Kudos: 74
Collections: Bread Eaters





	Found Family

Claude knew that he’d been the one to inadvertently start the whole thing. 

War was hard, and war was painful, and Claude could not chase away the memories of those he killed. He was forever grateful that most of his classmates had sided with him and Teach because he couldn’t imagine having to face off against people he knew again and again and again. Only Dimitri and Dedue were missing, and Ashe and Ferdinand had initially joined the Empire forces, but Teach had convinced both of them to rejoin the Golden Deer. As for Edelgard and Hubert... well, Claude was not looking forward to advancing through Gronder Field next month.

It was anticipation and anxiety for the upcoming battle, where he would surely have to face down Edelgard and Hubert, that kept Claude up most nights. Claude was not afraid to kill them, but he still played and replayed thousands of scenarios in his head, desperately searching for an end to this war that didn’t also mean an end to their lives. They had been his classmates, and even if Claude hadn’t been very close to either of them, he knew it was going to be painful for Ferdinand and Dorothea to watch Hubert and Edelgard die.

After a few sleepless nights, Claude figured there were better ways to be spending his time. Leading the charge against the Empire came with a lot of paperwork, after all, and Claude still had his own side projects to attend to. Seteth and Flayn had just replaced the desks in the Golden Deer classroom with some of the couches that were scattered around the monastery to provide them a makeshift common room, so Claude found himself drifting down there late at night with a stack of books about the history of the church. Claude was determined to get to the bottom of the church’s mysteries while Rhea wasn’t around because there had to be some reason Edelgard was so determined to wipe the church out, and Claude wanted to know why. He settled down on one of the couches, placing his books on a side table, and began to read.

The next thing he remembered was Hilda gently shaking him awake. He was still on the couch, and his book had fallen to the floor. “If you sleep any longer, you’ll miss morning briefing. You owe me one, by the way,” Hilda said with a wink, turning to leave as Claude sat himself up on the couch. His back protested his poor posture choices. 

“Yeah, yeah, I owe you,” Claude said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and trying not to think about what terrible things Hilda would make him do for her. “How’d you know I was down here?”

“You weren’t in your room,” Hilda said nonchalantly, but Claude could see through that smile. She’d been searching for him, and maybe even a bit worried.

“Thanks, Hilda,” Claude said genuinely, and he laughed a little as Hilda winced.

“Just don’t expect me to stick my neck out for you again,” Hilda said, and then she left Claude to gather himself and get ready for the grueling day ahead.

After that, it became routine for Claude to go down to the common room to read. Hilda joined him sometimes, claiming that she couldn’t trust him to hang out there by himself because if he read all night, where would that put the army, and didn’t he know that everyone was relying on him? Claude didn’t thank her because he knew better than to try, especially after he fell asleep and had a nightmare about Hilda, covered in blood, refusing to run as enemies overwhelmed her— and woke up to find his head resting on Hilda’s arm. Hilda’s head was leaned on his own, and she stirred as Claude awoke.

“Hilda?” Claude mumbled eloquently.

“I’m here. I’m alive. Go back t’ sleep,” she mumbled, swatting at the air lazily with a hand. Claude closed his eyes and fell back asleep without another nightmare. 

After that incident, there was no hope of chasing Hilda away. Marianne started to join them, because Hilda was worried about the dark bags under her eyes, and was she really getting any sleep, and Hilda would check on her but she also had to keep Claude in check, so there was no alternative but for Marianne to sleep in the common room, too. Marianne brought her pillow and blanket and curled up at the foot of the couch, her head resting on Hilda’s legs. Hilda complained about being a glorified human pillow, but the corners of her lips were turned up in a smile.

Linhardt and Caspar were the next to join, mostly because Linhardt was already staying up late conducting research, and he insisted that Caspar join to be his pillow. Caspar didn’t seem to mind, and Claude learned that he wasn’t the only one with nightmares when he awoke one night to Caspar murmuring Linhardt’s name in fear, and Linhardt gently stroking Caspar’s hair and whispering comforts to him. Linhardt and Claude made eye contact, and Claude saw in Linhardt’s eyes the same fear that he himself felt when he thought about losing Hilda, or Ignatz, or Leonie, or even Lorenz, or really any of them. All of their lives were in his hands, and— and then Hilda was gently squeezing his hand, a reassuring look in her eyes, and Claude silently thanked her for being his faithful second-in-command.

Surprisingly, Bernadetta was the next to join, whispering something about being lonely at night. She brought her notebook with her and wrote... something, although she would never let anyone read it. Linhardt had claimed Caspar’s lap, so Bernie took Caspar’s shoulder, and Claude had never seen Caspar smile so softly. She trembled at night, too, and Caspar and Hilda calmed her down with a smile and a cup of tea.

After the Battle at Gronder, seeing Dimitri out of his mind and Hubert and Edelgard wounded, more people started to drop by the common room at night with nightmares in their eyes. Hilda and Lorenz started tracking everyone’s tea preferences and cross-referencing with good teas for relaxation. Manuela started a therapy writing circle during the evenings, right before bed, so everyone could get everything out of their system. It was part of her therapy for Dimitri, but she figured everyone else could stand to have some therapy, too. Sylvain and Ingrid wrestled Felix into joining them so he wouldn’t train the night away, and Annette led Felix and Sylvain in reason lessons to distract them from Dimitri’s near-death condition. Cyril and Lysithea huddled in the corner of the room together, reading a book that they wouldn’t share with anyone else. Petra, Ferdinand, Lorenz, Dorothea, and Leonie debated politics until they fell asleep, Dorothea curled into Ferdinand’s side, Petra resting her head on Dorothea’s side, Leonie hogging a whole couch to herself and Lorenz curled up on the floor.

Eventually, Caspar got tired of sleeping on couches— it was bad for his back and shoulders, and he needed those to fight— so he and Raphael dragged some mattresses down to the common room. Most of them weren’t really sleeping in their own rooms anymore, anyway, and they all lent their mattresses to the cause. With a bit of maneuvering, they created one big mattress on the side of the room, quarantining the couches and tables to the other side of the room next to the fireplace. Claude had given up on reading a long time ago, and he claimed one corner of the mattress, sleeping next to Hilda and Marianne.

Claude wasn’t sure when it happened, exactly, but one night, after a particularly terrible nightmare where Teach died first, and then they all followed after, one by one by one, Claude sat up with a start and looked around in a panic, his eyes darting around the room. The moonlight streaming through the window guided him from face to face as he checked that his classmates were alive and accounted for, just to calm his nerves, and he was surprised to find that every one of his classmates was asleep in an unsophisticated pile on the mattresses. Teach, Seteth, Alois, Hanneman, and Manuela had found refuge on the couches, almost like they were watching over their students. Catherine and Shamir were missing because they were scouting, but there were two empty spots on the couch for them when they returned.

Claude turned back over, ignoring a protest from Lorenz, who’d fallen asleep right next to him, and closed his eyes, an inexplicable calm washing over him. And for the first time in a long while, he truly slept peacefully, without any more anxiety. His friends were here, and they were alive, and he’d keep it that way.


End file.
